Amusement device



A. SP'LL AMUSEMENT Filed NOV' DCC. 8) 1 MAN DEVICE 3 sheets-sh@et l Ameri Enlllman f ffZ/T/ Dec. 8, 1936. A SP|LLMAN l 2,063,468

AMUSBMENT DEVICE Filed Nov. 22, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnuentn' Almer Epillmem Dec. 8, v1936. I A splLLMAN 2,063,468

AMUSEMENT DEVI CE Filed Nov, 22. 19:55 s shets-sheet 5 lnUEnlclr Albert p'lllman Patented Dec. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE 6 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in passenger carrying amusement devices of the type wherein the passengers are carried upon the peripheral portion of a structure rotating about a xed centre, and the object of my invention is to provide such a device wherein the rotatable structure travels about a plane inclined to the horizontal.

A further object of my invention is to support the rotatable structure upon a circular track having undulations therein so that the periphery of the structure has an undulating movement as the structure rotates. A plurality of passenger carrying cars are swingably secured to the periphery of the rotatable structure and are also supported upon a second circular track concentrically positioned about the undulated track whereby the passenger carrying cars acquire a combined rocking and wave-like movement as they rotate.

Another object of my invention is to so construct the device that it may be readily assembled and disassembled for transportation from place to place.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts all as hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of my amusement device;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a fragmentary portion of my device;

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged view through a vertical section of my device showing the central hulp,` one of the cars and one of the track supporting structures;

Fig. 4 is a further enlarged perspective view of a fragmentary portion of one of the cars together with a U-clamp secured to the car and forming a pivotal connection between the car and the rotatable structure;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan View of thecar running wheel and tie rod assembly, the section'being taken through the running wheel spindle supporting brackets, and

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the assembly shown in Fig. 5.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the drawings.

VThe rotatable structure is positioned about a central pedestal I formed with a boss 2 carrying a hub 3. A plurality of sweeps 4 radiate from the hub 3 and are pivotally connected at their inner ends to the hub upon pins |29 contained within sweep receiving slots |30 in the hub. A

circular undulated track 5 concentrically surrounds the hub 3; and the hub, sweeps and track are in a plane inclined at an angle to the horizontal. The track 5 is mounted upon a plurality of radially disposed supporting frames B which 5 are suitably spaced apart around and underneath the track and are of various heights depending upon their position underneath the inclined track.

Supported upon the frames 6 and surrounding the undulated track 5 I furnish a second circular 10 track 'I of greater diameter than the track 5 and positioned substantially concentrically therewith. The frames 6 also support a circular platform 8 which surrounds the device and forms a walkway for the exit and entrance of passengers. 15

The outer `ends of the sweeps 4 carry running wheels 9 which roll upon the track 5 whereby the sweeps swing up and down as they rotate. The outer ends of the sweeps are interconnected by a plurality of tie rods I0 which have their ends pivotally connected to the sweeps so that the tie rods are permitted a rocking movement in following the undulations of the track 5. The pivotal connections between the tie rods and the sweeps can be of any desired construction, though 25 in my preferred construction I provide spherical male members II upon the ends of the tie rods which are contained within suitable female sockets on the ends of the sweeps, whereby universal joints I2 are formed.

A passenger carrying car I3 is positioned between each pair of sweeps and supported at its inner side upon a tie rod I 0. The passenger carrying cars are each provided with a pair of inverted U-brackets I4 which are secured to the 35 side of the car in the vicinity of its lower edge and are hooked over the tie rod as illustrated in Fig. 4. The brackets I4 are a comparatively loose fit upon the tie rods so that the cars are permitted a free swinging movement. For retaining the brackets upon the tie rods, I furnish each bracket with a withdrawable pin I5 which extends through orices in the jaws I 6 of the brackets underneath the tie rods. One end of each pin is formed with a head and the other end with a slot II containing a swingable latch I8. To insert or withdraw a pin I5, the latch I8 is swung into alignment with the pin. The latch normally .swings into the position shown in Fig. 4, under its own weight, and retains the pin in place across the jaws underneath the tie rod.

The cars I3 each carry a running wheel I9 which rolls upon the outer track 1. Each running wheel is positioned substantially centrally of the length of its car and is carried upon the outer end of a spindle 20. The spindles 20 each extend through the lower ends of a pair of spaced apart brackets and are retained against movement in the brackets by lock nuts 3| threaded upon the spindle ends. Upon each spindle, between its brackets 30, I swingably mount a depending jaw bracket 32 formed with driving cable receiving jaws 2| on its lower end. The amusement device is rotated by an endless cable 22 carried within the jaws 2| around the machine and also around a pair of driving sheave wheels 23 which are driven from a suitable source of power.

The jaw brackets are inter-connected by a plurality of tie rods 24. The ends of the tie rods 24 are formed with clevises 33, each carrying a pivotally mounted link 34 which is in turn mounted for horizontal pivotal movement between a pair of lugs 35 on a jaw bracket 32, whereby universal joints are formed between the tie rods and the jaw brackets.

The jaw brackets, being swingably mounted and inter-connected by universal joints, hang vertically from the cars, irrespective of the forward to rearward inclinations of the cars, whereby binding or chang of driving cable is obviated. To retain the jaw brackets against extreme swinging forward movement with the cable, particularly when the amusement device is started, I furnish several of the spindles 20 with movement limiting rods 36. The rods 36 carry universal joints 3l in the vicinity of their spindle engaging ends, and are also formed with end loops 38 and 39. The loops 38 are carried upon the spindles behind the nuts 3l, and loops 39 are bent in relation to the rods and carried on the tie rods 24. A pair of spaced apart collars are mounted upon the tie rods upon either side of loops 39 to limit the movement of the tie rod in relation to its movement limiting rod. By this construction the driven assembly is entirely flexible, and the jaw brackets 32 hang substantially vertically at all times. It is only necessary to provide a couple of limiting rods 36, and it is preferable that one rod project in the direction of rotation and the other rod in the opposite direction, so that one of the rods is under tension when the device is starting and the other under tension when the device is stopping.

While my invention contemplates the provision of the outer car supporting track 'l either in iiat or undulated form, I prefer to have this track hat, while, of course, inclined through substantially the same plane as the rotatable structure. If the outer track was undulated, the loading platform 8 would also have to be formed to follow such undulations which would make walking difficult for the passengers entering and leaving the device. I, however, so position the height of the track 'l in relation to the undulations of the track 5 that the plane of the track 'l lies intermediately of the distance between the uppermost and lowermost undulations of the track 5, where'- by the cars have a full rocking motion. By my construction whereby the cars are secured to the tie rods l0 for undulating movements therewith, in addition to the side rocking motions imparted to the cars through the height variations between the track 'l and the undulations in the track 5, the cars have a very exhilarating motion. The speed of the side rocking and forward and rearward tilting motion of the cars is, of course, dependent upon the speed at which the device is rotated. rIhe tracks i and 5 are built in sections and have their abutting ends clamped together when the device is erected, and such sections are detachably mounted upon the tops of the frames 6 by bolts 25 which extend from the top portions of the frames and through or between lugs 26 secured to the bottoms of the track sections.

The passengers enter and leave the cars I3 from the loading platform 8 which surrounds the machine, such platform being inclined to follow the inclination of the device. The platform is reached by suitably positioned inclined pathways 28. Although I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I can make such changes and alterations as I may from time to time deem necessary without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In an amusement device, a central hub, a plurality of sweeps pivoted to the hub for vertical swinging movement and radiating therefrom in a plane inclined to the horizontal, a circular undulated track inclined as a unit in a plane substantially the same as that of the sweeps, sweep supporting running wheels engaging the undulated track, tie rods extending between the sweeps, a second circular track concentrically positioned with and substantially in the same plane as the lrst track, a passenger carrying member pivotally mounted on one of the tie rods between two sweeps and extending to the outer circular track, and a running wheel upon the passenger carrying member engaging the outer track.

2. In an amusement device, a circular undulated track positioned as a unit in a plane inclined to the horizontal, a hub centrally positioned within the track, a plurality of sweeps pivoted to the hub for vertical swinging movement and radiating from the hub to the undulated track, running wheels carried by the sweeps and rolling upon the undulated track, tie rods extending between and pivotally connected to adjacent sweeps, a second circular track of greater diameter than the rst track and positioned concentrically with and substantially in the same plane as the i-lrst track, passenger carrying cars pivoted to the tie rods for vertical swinging movement and extending to the outer circular track, a wheel on each of the passenger carrying cars rolling upon the outer track, cable receiving jaws carried by the rotatable sweep and car structure, and a driving cable surrounding the structure and carried within the jaws.

3. In an amusement device, a circular undulated track positioned as a unit in a plane inclined to the horizontal, a hub centrally positioned within the track, a plurality of sweeps pivoted to the hub for vertical swinging movement and radiating from the hub to the undulated track, running wheels carried by the sweeps and rolling upon the undulated track, tie rods extending between and pivotally connected to adjacent sweeps, a second circular track of greater diameter than the first track and positioned concentrically with and substantially in the same plane as the iirst track, passenger carrying cars pivoted to the tie rods for vertical swinging movement and extending to the outer circular track, a pair of inverted U-brackets positioned upon the side of each car and detachably hooked over a tie rod, wthdrawable locking pins extending across the jaws of the brackets underneath the tie rods, and stop members secured on the tie rods for retaining the brackets against longitudinal movement on the rods.

4. In an amusement device as claimed in claim 2, a plurality of jaw brackets swingably mounted upon the cars and upon which the jaws are carried, and tie rods extending between the jaw brackets and pivotally connected thereto.

5. In an amusement device, a circular undulated track positioned as a unit in a plane inclined to the horizontal, a structure undulatably rotatable in the same plane as the track and supported thereby, a second circular track of greater diameter than the undulated track and also positioned in a plane inclined to the horizontal and concentrically with the undulated track, passenger carrying members pivoted to the rotatable structure for vertical swinging movement in relation to the structure and extending to and supported by the outer circular track, cable receiving jaws rotatable with the rotatable structure, and a driving cable surrounding the rotatable structure and carried within the jaws, a plurality of jaw brackets swingably mounted upon the structure and upon which the jaws are carried, tie rods extending between the brackets and pivotally connected thereto, a rod for limiting the swinging movement of the brackets and secured at one end to the rotatable structure and having its other end slidably mounted upon one 0f the tie rods which extend between the jaw brackets, and stop members carried upon said tie rod to engage the limiting rod and restrain the movement of the tie rod in relation to the limiting rod.

6. In an amusement device, a circular undulated track positioned as a unit in a plane inclined to the horizontal, a hub centrally positioned within the track, a plurality of sweeps pivoted to the hub for vertical swinging movement and radiating from the hub to the undulated track, running wheels carried by the sweeps and rolling upon the undulated track, tie rods eX- tending between and pivotally connected to adjacent sweeps, a second circular track of greater diameter than the rst track and positioned concentrically with and substantially in the same plane as the lrst track, passenger carrying cars pivoted to the tie rods for vertical swinging movement and extending to the outer circular track, a wheel on each of the passenger carrying cars rolling upon the outer track, inverted U-brackets positioned upon the cars and hooked over the tie rods to form the pivotal connections between the cars and the tie rods, cable receiving jaws carried by the rotatable sweep and car structure, and a driving cable surrounding the structure and carried within the jaws, a plurality of jaw brackets swingably hanging from the rotatable sweep and car structure and upon which the jaws are carried, tie rods extending between the brackets and pivotally connected thereto, a rod for limiting the swinging movement of the brackets and secured at one end` to the rotatable structure and having its other end slidably mounted upon one of the tie rods which extend between the jaw brackets, and stop members carried upon said tie rod to engage the limiting rod and restrain the movement of the tie rod in relation to the limiting rod.

ALBERT SPILLMAN. 

